Political_History_And_Corruption_In_Macbeth

Political History And Corruption In Macbeth To understand many of William Shakespeare’s plays, one must understand the history of the time period. A.L. Rowse gives a history of William Shakespeare’s time, the late sixteenth to the early seventeenth century and how the government of the time was authoritarian but popular. The person of the Monarch (derived from the Greek “monorchia”, the rule of one), the Crown, was something even the lowest character could understand. The monarchs have many different titles, including king, queens, sultan, emperors, empresses, tsars, and kaisers, depending on the type of governments and the location of the state he or she rules. Oftentimes, the monarch was based on the need for a strong ruler who could gather the countries best men to form and command a military that was used to defend the country. The monarch was absolute and only responsible to God and was considered to be God's representative in all worldly and royal matters. A strong central government was needed to maintain order and provided a stable atmosphere in which trade could flourish. Productive leadership qualities were very noticeable in Henry the VIII, and even more so in his daughter, Elizabeth (Rowse 226-263). Furthermore, “There is no doubt that she macbeth, lady, king, power, people, says, duncan, corruption, murder, god, state, shakespeare’s, shakespeare, one, fear, character, within, william, time, thane, play, own, out, macbeth’s, kingdom, history, herself, even, country, control, being, ambition, against, works, witches